Good Wabi Sabi References

Does a naturally fading painted fabric (due to exposure to sunlight) count as wabi sabi object?What is the boundary between broken / rotten objects and wabi sabi object?How rustic / rough does an object or teaware still be considered wabi sabi pottery?

Need help with good references regarding the wabi sabi concept for creating a wabi sabi home.I searched some books in amazon, but would appreciate if there're additional inputs from experts here.Thanks in advance m(_ _)m

Unless you read Japanese, the English language books on the subject are a bit limited. Try searching these Kanji........ 侘寂 or these 侘と寂.

Yes, since the fading fabric is expressing the aspects of impermenance and transience of all things. Even the highly non-artistic scientific concept of Entropy is at the very core of the wabi-sabi aesthetic.

There is no "boundary" to the expression........ any boundary you might see lies within you, in your spirit. Even crumbling ancient ruins can create feelings of wabi-sabi. As can a rusting old car frame or a tin can. Wabi sabi exists within you.... not in the objects. The objects themselves create those emotional resonances.

This is a quote from writings by Tim Wong, Ph.D. and Akiko Hirano, Ph.D. :

""Translation," wrote Kakuzo Okakura, author of the classic The Book of Tea, "can at best be only the reverse side of a brocade, - all the threads are there, but not the subtlety of color or design." Few examples illustrate this better than the Japanese concept of wabi sabi. Westerners tend to associate wabi sabi with physical characteristics - imperfection, crudeness, an aged and weathered look, etc. Although wabi sabi may encompass these qualities, these characteristics are neither sufficient nor adequate to convey the essence of the concept. Wabi sabi is not rigidly attached to a list of physical traits. Rather, it is a profound aesthetic consciousness that transcends appearance. It can be felt but rarely verbalized, much less defined. Defining wabi sabi in physical terms is like explaining the taste of a piece of chocolate by its shape and color to someone who has never tasted it. As long as one focuses on the physical, one is doomed to see only the back side of the brocade, while its real beauty remains hidden. In order to see its true essence, one must look beyond the apparent, one must look within."

This is one book that I use in my History of Japanese Ceramics and Making Handbuild Chawan courses I teach at the college. It is a good introduction for the average person :

John, thank you for the info. Unfortunately I am limited to english literature.The quote you mentioned here is interesting aspect of wabi sabi: the state of mind or the way of looking at the current state and object that appreciates the beauty in imperfection and simplicity. Seems it could be a long process to learn .

Westerners tend to associate wabi sabi with physical characteristics - imperfection, crudeness, an aged and weathered look, etc. Although wabi sabi may encompass these qualities, these characteristics are neither sufficient nor adequate to convey the essence of the concept. Wabi sabi is not rigidly attached to a list of physical traits. Rather, it is a profound aesthetic consciousness that transcends appearance.

One of my favorite Zen Masters was also an artist and photographer. One of her photographs, displayed at an art gallery, was a little controversial. It was of a coil of dogshit in new grass, whitening at one edge but still ripe enough to have attracted a bright, blue-green fly. Very beautiful once you could see.

kikula wrote:One of my favorite Zen Masters was also an artist and photographer. One of her photographs, displayed at an art gallery, was a little controversial. It was of a coil of dogshit in new grass, whitening at one edge but still ripe enough to have attracted a bright, blue-green fly. Very beautiful once you could see.

This is brilliant! Do you have a link to the teacher and photo?:"In the world of the sacred, there is nothing more sacred than shit."

It was a long time ago, and actually was a painting, I think... In googling just now to see if there's any mention of it online, I was immediately directed to pages and pages of variously seething and quivering articles and letters and etc., concerning controversies and subsequent condemnation of her Japanese teacher (the usual sexual abuse charges), and current new buzzings about her complicity in this and that, and the circumstances of her receiving inka... and if you've done the American dharma scene for any number of decades you know that's how it frequently rolls. Sigh. The painting's not to be found, in any case; if you want to know who she was, msg me. So, shall we also appreciate this shit?One taste. But tie your horse to a tree.

kikula wrote:It was a long time ago, and actually was a painting, I think... In googling just now to see if there's any mention of it online, I was immediately directed to pages and pages of variously seething and quivering articles and letters and etc., concerning controversies and subsequent condemnation of her Japanese teacher (the usual sexual abuse charges), and current new buzzings about her complicity in this and that, and the circumstances of her receiving inka... and if you've done the American dharma scene for any number of decades you know that's how it frequently rolls. Sigh. The painting's not to be found, in any case; if you want to know who she was, msg me. So, shall we also appreciate this shit?One taste. But tie your horse to a tree.

So, shall we also appreciate this shit?One taste. But tie your horse to a tree.